The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: gluskap on November 19, 2017, 02:57:02 PM
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So after reading MMM’s post about his Leaf, I’ve been seriously considering hopping on the EV bandwagon. The tax credits seem like such a great deal to pass up. If the new House GOP tax bill passes, the EV tax credits will get repealed so it seems like getting an EV before the end of the year is a good time to do it. However, a friend just got a new lease for the Hyundai Ionic Electric and it seems like an even better deal.
http://www.hyundaiusa.com/ioniqelectric/lease
Basically it’s $275/month for the base model. It includes unlimited miles and they give you a rebate on your charging costs for the first 50k miles (comes out to about $100/month based on the miles I would drive and cost of electricity). It’s $2500 down but I would get the California tax credit of $2500. Currently I spend about $200-250/month on gas so basically I’d come out ahead per month on this as my gas cost would then go to $0 and the least cost ($275- $100 electric rebate is about $175 which is less than the $200-250 I currently pay for gas).
At first I was against leasing instead of buying. But battery technology is moving so fast that in 3 years there will be a lot of new better options with longer ranges. If I buy a Leaf now, I will have to pay for that depreciation if I try to sell it later. The range on a 2017 Leaf is only 107 miles vs. 110 miles on the Ioniq. There are much better deals on the 2017 Leaf. I’ve gotten quotes for $25k and after the tax credits it would be $15k with 0% apr for 60 months similar to MMM’s deal. The new 2018 Leaf is coming out in January and range on that is 150 miles. I was thinking of waiting for that but if GOP House bill passes I would lose the $7500 federal tax credit.
My commute is about 86 miles and there are no charging stations at work. So a 107 or 110 mile range might be cutting it close? Other options I looked at are Chevy Volt and Toyota Prius Prime. These are hybrid plugin EVs so I wouldn’t have to worry about the range. The Volt is about $29k minus $9k tax credit and Prius Prime is about $27k minus $6k tax credit.
Which do you think I should get?
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Ford Focus Electric is $210/month for a 115 mile range; any reason the Ioniq, which is available in extraordinarily limited quantities, would be better?
If you haven't already, use this chart of available EVs in the US to help your decision:
https://insideevs.com/compare-plug-ins/
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My commute is about 86 miles and there are no charging stations at work. So a 107 or 110 mile range might be cutting it close? Other options I looked at are Chevy Volt and Toyota Prius Prime. These are hybrid plugin EVs so I wouldn’t have to worry about the range. The Volt is about $29k minus $9k tax credit and Prius Prime is about $27k minus $6k tax credit.
Which do you think I should get?
86 miles minimum distance is too far for a pure EV that starts out with 100-and-change range. My notes from my early "max range" attempts (where I wasn't trying to impersonate a rolling roadblock hyper-miling douche on the highway, but otherwise was going for max range) yielded 80-84 miles on my 2015 LEAF. You could do 86 miles, but you'd have range anxiety every day, couldn't take your car out a mile down the road at lunch or make a side trip on the way home to get milk, etc. 3 years of heavy cycling on the battery and your range will likely fall below that where you could get to work and back under any circumstances. (The batteries are fairly robust, but regularly drawing them down below 20% will take its toll.)
I think you need a minimum headline range of 1.4 (and 1.5+ is better) times your round trip commute if you can only charge on one end.
All that aside, I love my LEAF. In 35 months, I've added air to the tires twice and filled the washer fluid 3 times. As the guy who turns the wrenches on the family cars, it's been great. My commute is 16 miles round trip though and I have chargers at work.
For you, a hybrid is probably a better idea. Go with a 3-4 year old Prius and you'll get change back from $15K.
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How about a Chevy Bolt? Gets around 300 miles per charge? Depending on where you live, there may also be rebates available through your power company. We just leased a Bolt. Terms were $5K upfront (3 year lease), and $120/month. We also are getting a $700 Costco rebate (this may be regional?) & have received a $500 rebate from our power company.
We have a short commute & get free charging at work, so it's a huge win. I've been driving the Bolt over my previous car (2005 BMW - save the facepunches, it was bought 13 years ago ;-)), & actually love driving the Bolt.